


Gone A Bit Wild

by itslaurenmae



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Arranged Marriage, Canon Compliant, F/M, Missing Scene(s), set in season one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:20:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21638002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itslaurenmae/pseuds/itslaurenmae
Summary: It was the morning of her marriage. Esme rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sighed softly, blinking at the roof of the rickety wagon. It had been a cold night, and it was an even colder morning. She was nervous, the way any bride would be the morning of a wedding - what if she tripped on the cold, stone cobbles? What if the overwhelming stench of salt and smoke was all she would remember of this day when she got old?She wasn’t worried about her husband.
Relationships: Esme Shelby/John Shelby
Comments: 2
Kudos: 29
Collections: Peaky Blinders Exchange Round Two: Season 5 Edition





	Gone A Bit Wild

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Impala_Chick](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/gifts).



> Hello! Please enjoy this short piece about Esme and John! I loved this pairing and was happy to write something for them. 
> 
> Written as a treat!
> 
> ((in the bleak midwinter))

It was the morning of her marriage. Esme rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and sighed softly, blinking at the roof of the rickety wagon. It had been a cold night, and it was an even colder morning. She was nervous, the way any bride would be the morning of a wedding - what if she tripped on the cold, stone cobbles? What if the overwhelming stench of salt and smoke was all she would remember of this day when she got old? 

She wasn’t worried about her husband. 

The day before, when they’d been washing clothes around the wagon, she’d overheard her aunt talking about Him, or at least, she hoped it was Him they were talking about.

“Tommy Shelby’s very handsome,” her aunt was saying. “He’s not tall, but he is beautiful. Clear eyes, that one, like glass.” 

Esme approached the circle of women working and plopped her basket of soiled rags down on the ground. Her aunt wrung out the pants she’d been washing and winked in Esme’s direction. “He’s not the one you’re marrying though, Esme.”

Esme pushed her hair from her face, rolled up her sleeves, and plunged a handful of cloth into the tub. “So? Why bother telling me about him, then?” She knew she wasn’t supposed to be sassing back, but she couldn’t help it. Thankfully, her aunt had a soft spot for her and didn’t seem to mind.

“Because,” her aunt continued, shaking out the wet garment. “Because if his brother looks anything like him, you’ll have a handsome man for a husband.”

Her aunt playfully winked in Esme’s direction as Esme began to scrub the rags on the washboard. It wouldn’t hurt to have a handsome man for a husband.

She really could have expected much worse. She’d had a cousin who’d been wed off to a boring, pudgy cobbler from Leeds after she’d “gone a bit wild” the last summer. Esme personally didn’t see how dancing and having the occasional shag with some farmer’s son was considered “going wild”... that was quite tame compared to some of the things her siblings got themselves up to. 

It probably had more to do with the fact that said cousin had been pregnant and the farmer’s son had wanted nothing to do with raising a half-gypsy child after he found out. It wasn’t a shock that the farm had been burned up a week later, the farmer and his son nowhere to be found, and Elza happily engaged to that sweet, if pudgy, cobbler. Apparently, he was a good man and a great father, but not very good-looking, and also not very smart - he had no idea the baby wasn’t his but Elza said he was kind, gentle, and a hard worker. Esme guessed it could have been worse. 

“Gone a bit wild” was what her aunt liked to say whenever she was trying to set up a marriage for one of her girls, petitioning someone with power, like Tommy Shelby, to forge ahead with their family. It wasn’t always the truth. 

Maybe her aunt was deceiving Tommy Shelby, but from what Esme had heard about him, maybe that was okay. Her aunt had a way of being able to stand on an even playing field with the men in other families - Esme had always appreciated that about her. Her aunt swiftly made decisions, didn’t gossip, and saw to it that everyone was taken care of. So what if she took a bit of liberty with the phrase “gone a bit wild”?

During cold winters like this one, where there were too many mouths to feed, a petty war with the Shelbys that wasn’t worth their resources to continue, and not enough warmth and love in the world, Esme didn’t mind being the one who’d “gone a bit wild” this time.

Esme was eighteen, after all, plenty old enough to have her own children. She was ready to be done cooking and cleaning for someone else in the fields and the snow. She felt ready to do it for herself now.

Esme had always wanted children - she had an easy way with them, and they always seemed drawn to her. Esme had a sweet smile, and a musical laugh, and her bright eyes and her warm, open face were something children loved about her. She was always the one snuggling the babies during family celebrations or mournings, and she knew how to comfort as well as care. Yes, she’d make an excellent mother.

That’s what she’d overheard her aunt say when she’d been listening outside the wagon when Tommy had come to visit. Esme hadn’t seen Tommy Shelby come or go, but she had heard plenty. Apparently, John had children. Four of them. And they desperately needed a mother.

Esme didn’t need a man who was kind - frankly, that sounded a bit boring, but she’d be lying if she said she didn’t care about what he looked like. She’d not been with many men, but she knew what she liked and what she didn’t. And if He was anywhere near as beautiful as her aunt made Tommy out to be… well, she wouldn’t mind it one bit. 

So, on the morning of her wedding, Esme rolled out of bed and tucked her unruly hair behind her ears. Her reflection in the foggy glass of the window looked sleepy still, but her heart beat in excitement for the day. She’d be married the next time the sun came up.

* * *

He didn’t look anything like his brother, but that wasn’t a problem. Esme found John more handsome than Tommy, easily. He was taller, too.

And when he put his hands on her growing belly, as his other children ran about them, Esme smiled, happy they’d gone a bit wild together, and would until the day death took them from one other.


End file.
